The National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference in November

On November 16, the National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference in which Meng Wei, spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission, briefed reporters on issues related to the energy sector, such as gas supply and price stabilization, energy reduction for raw materials and electricity consumption from January to October, and answered questions from reporters.

"Looking ahead to the whole year, economic growth is expected to further accelerate, and the foundation for a steady recovery will be consolidated." Meng Wei said, the next step, to seize the time window to promote the economy to further stabilize upward.

"Based on the current supply situation, although the international complex and severe market situation brings a certain influence on the guaranteed supply of natural gas for heating season in our country this winter, the supply of natural gas resources in our country is generally guaranteed after early preparation, joint efforts and strong measures are taken." Meng Wei pointed out that supply and demand may be tight during peak hours and in some areas affected by the continued cold weather.

Meng Wei said that northern China has entered the heating season, and the National Development and Reform Commission will work with all relevant parties to strengthen coordination and continue to do a good job in four areas.

First, we will ensure the supply and price of gas for people's livelihood. During the heating season, the National Development and Reform Commission will organize all localities to fulfill the main responsibility of ensuring the livelihood of the gas, and compacting the direct responsibility of urban fuel enterprises to ensure the adequate and stable supply of the livelihood of the gas. At the same time, we will urge all localities to strictly implement pricing policies for residential residents and ensure that gas prices for people's livelihood are basically stable.

Second, we will increase domestic natural gas storage and production. We will support upstream gas supply enterprises such as petrochina, Sinopec and CNOOC in increasing storage and production, and increase domestic natural gas production during winter peak periods as much as possible. Give full play to the scheduling and coordination role of the National Pipeline Network Group, promote the storage of existing gas storage facilities, make overall use of gas storage resources, and ensure the demand of the whole heating season, especially the peak supply.

Third, we will strictly implement contracts. The National Development and Reform Commission has organized all localities and gas supply enterprises to sign heating season contracts face to face. During the heating season, it will continue to urge the strict implementation of the contracts and ensure the stability of gas supply and use according to the contracts.

Fourth, we solved individual problems in a timely and coordinated manner. Every year during the heating season, there will be some individual problems. The National Development and Reform Commission will make full use of the daily natural gas supply guarantee mechanism in winter, strengthen targeted adjustment, coordinate and solve various individual problems in a timely manner, and ensure the people warm winter.

On the release of the "Notice on Further Efforts to Exclude Raw Material Energy from the Total Energy Consumption Control" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), Meng Wei pointed out that the exclusion of raw material energy from the total energy consumption control is an important measure to improve the regulation of the total and intensity of energy consumption and ensure the demand for high-quality energy development.

"The reduction of raw material energy is not to relax the requirements for the development of petrochemical, chemical and coal chemical industries, and it is not to encourage all regions to blindly develop related projects." Meng Wei stressed, on the one hand, to continue to strictly implement the project access requirements. The industry must still comply with industrial plans and policies, go through the necessary approval procedures, achieve advanced levels of energy efficiency, and effectively control carbon and pollutant emissions. These requirements are consistent. All localities and units concerned should implement relevant policies and requirements, resolutely curb the blind development of projects with high energy consumption, high emission and low level, and strictly approve projects in terms of policy compliance, procedural compliance and technological advancement. On the other hand, we will continue to promote industrial energy conservation and energy efficiency. The fact that raw material energy is not included in the total energy consumption control does not mean that raw material energy can be used without limit and inefficiently. Energy conservation reviews and standards will continue to set requirements on raw material energy consumption. All regions and units concerned should speed up the research and development of advanced technologies for energy conservation and carbon reduction, and continue to promote energy conservation and efficiency.

Meng Wei said that the concept of energy use for raw materials proposed in the Circular is in line with international general rules. The reduction of energy use for raw materials can more scientifically and objectively reflect the actual situation of energy use in related industries such as petrochemical, chemical and coal-chemical industries, effectively enhance the flexibility of total energy consumption management, free up energy use space for high-quality development, and provide guarantee for rational energy use for high-level projects. To strengthen the resilience of the industrial chain and supply chain and strengthen support, is of great significance to the stable and healthy economic operation.

The news conference came a day after the National Bureau of Statistics released economic data for October. The data show that in October, China's economy withstood the impact of multiple factors at home and abroad, and continued to maintain a recovery momentum.

The rapid recovery of economic development is directly reflected in electricity consumption. In terms of power generation, industrial power generation from January to October was 7 trillion KWH, up 2.2 percent year on year. In October, China's electricity generation rose from a decline to 661 billion kilowatt-hours, up 1.3 percent year on year. Thermal power, nuclear power, wind power and solar power grew by 3.2 percent, 7.4 percent, 19.2 percent and 24.7 percent, respectively.

In terms of electricity consumption, from January to October, the whole society's electricity consumption increased by 3.8% year-on-year. The electricity consumption of primary, secondary and residential industries increased by 6.5 percent, 3.0 percent and 3.3 percent year-on-year, respectively, while that of the tertiary industry decreased by 2.0 percent year-on-year.

When briefing on the implementation progress of package policies and follow-up measures to stabilize the economy, Meng Wei said that the National Development and Reform Commission is accelerating the construction of nuclear power and hydropower projects, and speeding up the construction of large-scale wind power photovoltaic bases in desert, Gobi and desert areas. In the first three quarters of this year, the output of raw coal reached 3.32 billion tons, an increase of 330 million tons year on year, or an increase of 11.2%.

"In the energy sector, the construction of a number of new wind power photovoltaic, pumped storage and nuclear power plant projects will not only boost the development of related industries, but also help ensure energy security." From January to October, the National Development and Reform Commission approved 97 fixed-asset investment projects with a total investment of 1,433.3 billion yuan, of which 72 were approved and 25 were approved, mainly in the energy, transportation and water conservancy sectors, Meng said.